stitzel



(N0 Mode-1 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

F. STITZEL.

ROTARY STEAM ENGENE.

No. 297,091. Patented Apr. 15, 1884.

WITNESSES v l/VVE/VTOR (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

F. STITZEL.

ROTARY STEAM ENGINE. No. 297,091. Patented Apr. 15, 1884.

WITNESSES l/VV IVTOR 'm/flm N4 PETERS. Phnlolilhugnphln Wuhln wn. DJ;

(No Model.) s Sheets-Sheet 3.

- P. STITZEL.

ROTARY STEAM ENGINE.

No. 297,091. Patented Apr. 15, 1884.

TATES Nrrnn ATENT much.

FREDERICK STITZEL, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ADOLPH REUTLINGER, OF SAME PLACE.

ROTAVRY STEAM-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 297,091, dated April 15 1884. Application filed July 24, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK STITZEL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Steam-Engines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention is in the nature of improvements in rotary steam engines and pumps,

and has special reference to the simplification of the construction and operation of such apparatus.

The invention consists of a steam-engine 1 the casing of which forms the cylinder, and contains a rotary piston divided centrally into two independent chambers having openings into the cylinder for the live and exhaust steam, respectively, an axial inlet to the live- 2o steam chamber, and an axial outlet for the exhaust-chamber, combined with a working-head on said piston co operating with two abutments in the cylinder, which divide the cylinder into live and exhaust steam chambers,

2 5 all as I shall now proceed to set forth and claim.

In the accompanying drawings, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure l is an elevation of the in- 0 terior of my engine with the proximate head of the cylinder or casing removed. Fig. 2 is a central vertical cross-section of the same. Fig. 3 is a top plan view, with a part of the casing broken away to show one of theabut- 5 ments, andalso showing the steam-supply pipe for the operation of said abutment.- Fig. 4 is an edge elevation of the piston detached, and Fig. 5 a top plan view of said piston with the packing removed.

The casing a, provided with a suitable base, has an annular body, I), and discous heads 0 c, bolted steam-tight to said body, the whole forming a steam-cylinder, and I shall hereinafter designate the same by the term steam- 5 cylinder, or simply cylinder.

The heads 0 0 have upright tubular portions 01 d, constituting, by suitable connections, an inlet and outlet for the steam, and so serving, according to the direction of rotation of the piston, as will hereinafterappear. These inlet and outlet tubes open into the cylinder at about the center thereof, and terminate in tubular bosses c c, which serve as boxes for the shaft f of the piston g. The shaft is fitted steam-tight in these boxes by suitable packing or stuffing boxes. The wholes h h in the heads of the cylinder are enough larger than the shaft to fornr inlet and outlet ports for the steam-cylinder in communication with the tubes d d.

The piston g is a flat circular casting, cored out into two chambers, i i, separated by a central vertical partition, j, and provided with an internal recessed hub, is, whereby it is fitted upon its shaft f, so as to rotate said shaft to transmit power from the engine. The piston is of such smaller diameter than the cylinder as to leave an annular chamber, Z, between the two, and its faces are provided with annular paokings m a, forming steam-tight joints with the heads of the cylinder. The packing-ring m surrounds the inlet and outlet to the cylinder, and the ring'n is arranged near or at the edge of the piston. Depressions 0 0 in the faces of t the piston, and connecting-tubes p 7 5 extending transversely through the piston, serve as steam-balancing mediums for the piston, preventing friction, or reducing it to a minimum, and neutralizing leakage.

The piston is provided with .a piston-head 8o proper, (1, having its transverse edge and sides grooved, with packing-strips 1" inserted in said grooves, so that said head has a superficial area ofan extent coincident with the width and height of the steam-chamber Z, and fitting 8 5 steam-tiglit in said chamber. The grooves in the head q are shown at q in Fig. 5.

The steanrchamber Zis divided by abutments s 8, arranged. to work in boxes t t on the cylinder. These abutments are normally held in contact with the piston g by pistons 10 u, arranged in cylinders 12 o normally charged with steam by a pipe, 20, which may receive its steam-supply from any suitable sourceas, for instance, the live steam from the boiler of the engineand the quantity of steam used need be very small.

The head q of the piston is provided with a port, r, (see dotted lines, Figs. 1 and 2, and full lines, Figs. 4: and 5,) whereby communication is established between the steam-chamber i of the piston and the annular chamber Z of the cylinder, and the piston g is provided with a port, 9, (see dotted lines, Fig. 2, and

full lines, Figs. et and 5,) whereby communication is established between the other chamber, t, of the piston and the annular chamber of the cylinder. There is thus no direct com munication between the chambers 2' and t, and both open into the annular chamber Z.

The continuous longitudinal dotted lines in Figs. 4 and 5 represent the location of the partitionj.

As an auxiliary of the depressions o and pipes 19 in balancing the piston and maintaining an equilibrium of steam-pressure, I may make small holes 0 through said depressions into the chamber t" to insure sufficient and equal steam-pressure. So, also, to insure the efficiency of the packing-rings and strips, there may be beneath them openings 1) from their grooves into the piston, whereby they will be forced out against the walls of the cylinder by steam.

The piston will be so made or cast as that the weight ofits head 'will be compensated for.

The operation of my engine is as follows: As exhaust-port g is located and rotating in advance of head q, it exhausts before abutment 8. Then it passes under and past abutment 8, exhausting behind said abutment. The curvilinear surface of head q now com esin contact with the abutment s, and as there is no pressure on any face of said abutment it will be pushed back by head q with but the friction ofthe weight of the abutment on the boxes or guides and the pressure of the little piston a to overcome. The head q now passes under abutment s, and it is immediately restored to its former seat. Exhaustportg then passes under and beyond abutment s, exhausting the upper half of the cylinder Z, thereby instantly throwing the pressure on the lower surface of the abutment s. The abutment shaving been relieved from its pressure on all sides, is now reached by head g, pushed back and passed by same and seated again by the piston a. The exhaust-port y then approaches and passes under and beyond abutment s, exhausting the lower half of the cylinder Z, thereby throwing instantly the pressure on the upper surface of abutment s, and the abutment s is in due time passed by head q.

It will be seen by the action of the several parts of this engine in running or rotating, the exhaust-port 5 is always exhausting in advance of head q, and that the induction-port 1- is always admitting live steam behind head q, thatvalves s and s have alternately the press ure of fixed resistance to bear-via, abutment s on its upper surface and valve 5 on its lower surface.

Referring to Fig. 1, and considering the piston rotating or running, the resistance is 011 the lower side of abutment 8, because exhaustport f/ has just passed under and beyond it, exhausting upper cylinder, 1. On the drawings, the piston-head q is at its highest point, and cylinder Z is filled with live steam from the lower surface of s to the highest point of head on port r side. There is no pressure on abutment 8, because from the lower surface of abutment s to top of head q, port 1-, the cylinder is filled with equal pressure, and consequently abutment s is pressed equally from all sides. Now, port 5 will pass under and beyond abutment s, exhausting the lower half of cylinder, whereby the pressure will be instantly thrown on top of abutment s. The functions of these abutments are therefore to take the pressure from each other to allow head (1 to pass them. Say, abutment 8 holds the pressure to allow abutment s to be passed and have sufficient time to seat true and quietly, then abutment 8 takes the pressure to allow abutment s to do the same. There is no pressure whatever on these abutments when they slide backward and forward. The operation takes place twice in one revolution. There is no dead-center, no variationof pressure area on head q and on abutments s and s, as the pressure is all on one abutment while the other is being passed. The ports 9 and 1" are an ranged on opposite sides of the head, as is obvious, and their relative location is indicated in Fig. 5, and also in Fig. 4-, a part of the piston being broken away in the latter figure to more fully show the port g. From this it will be seen that after the first exhaust, the parts of the chamber '1, on opposite sides of the abutments s s, are alternately live and exhaust steam chambers, owing to which of the ports 0* and g are therein, and one or the other of said ports is in either one or the other of said chambers at all times during the ad mission of live steam. The steam acting through pistons a a seats the abutments s and s and never escapes from, but plays back and forth in its pipe. The travel of the exhauststeam is through the port g, chamber '6, and out around the shaft and tube on the righthand side of Fig. 2.

The inlet of the steam may be made as small as desired, so as to avoid expansion, and the whole regulated by a governor.

This engine can easily be made reversible,

but as one means for accomplishing this will form the subject-matter of a future application, I will not now detail the same. A modification of the mechanism herein shown and described I have applied in a pressure water-meter, as may be seen by reference to my concurrent application for a patent therefor, Serial No. 101,748, and such appli cation thereof I do not here claim.

Vhat I claim is- 1. A steam engine the casing of which forms the steam-cylinder, the rotary piston divided centrally into two independent chambers having openings into the cylinder for the live and exhaust steam, respectively, a solid hub and shaft for said piston, the axial inlet for the live steam, and the axial outlet for the exhaust-steam, combined with the Worlp ing-head on said piston co-operating with two abutments in the cylinder, which divide the cylinder into liveand exhaust steam chambers, all constructed and arranged to operate substantially as and for the purpose set forth. 2. lhe combination, with the cylinder and piston, of abutments s s, normally seated against the piston and provided with operating-pistons, and a normally and constantly charged steam-pipe connecting the two, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The rotary piston having separated non- 

